McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, was arrested seven years ago after breaking into computers belonging to the US Army, US Navy, US Air Force, Department of Defense and NASA.

The 43-year-old hacker claims that he accessed the computer systems only to hunt for top secret information about anti-gravity propulsion systems and alien technology, which he believed the authorities were hiding from the public.

Earlier this month McKinnon was told that he would not be allowed to take his appeal against extradition to the UK Supreme Court, because his case is not of “general public importance”.

The news that the British government is now looking more closely into McKinnon’s case will be greeted positively by his many supporters – who number members of all the major British political parties, celebrities and 71% of IT professionals we polled earlier this year.

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About the author

Graham Cluley runs his own award-winning computer security blog, and is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and gives computer security presentations. Follow him on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/gcluley">@gcluley</a>.